Chapter 3 Working with FileMaker databases on the web

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1 Chapter 3 Working with FileMaker databases on the web FileMaker Pro Instant Web Publishing automatically provides web pages and forms for interacting with your database. Web users click buttons in the status area to browse, find, sort, add, edit, and delete records. When you enable Instant Web Publishing and share files, anyone who has an account for a database and knows the IP address or domain name where it is hosted can access the file. Depending on their account privileges, they can: 1 view records on different layouts and views 1 add, duplicate, and delete records 1 add and edit data in fields 1 search the database to view a subset of records 1 sort the database to rearrange the records Important Manage accounts and privilege sets to restrict user access to database features for both the desktop and the web. Web browser requirements To work with a published FileMaker Pro database, web users need: 1 a web browser. On Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, or Windows 2000 Server, use On Mac OS X, use Internet Explorer 6.0 and 7.0 Safari 1.2, 1.3 (Mac OS X 10.3), Safari 2.0 (Mac OS X 10.4) Firefox 2.0 Firefox 2.0 Note These requirements may differ from those of the FileMaker product that hosts the database. 1 access to the internet or an intranet. 1 the Internet Protocol (IP) address or domain name of the computer that hosts your database file. 1 JavaScript must be enabled in the web browser.

2 20 FileMaker Instant Web Publishing Guide Accessing a FileMaker database from the web To access the Database Homepage, web users open the web browser, then type the IP address of the host computer. 1 In some cases, web users can type the domain and host name of your computer instead of the IP address, for example Or, they can type the host name, like Contact your internet service provider or network administrator for information about mapping a domain and host name to your IP address. 1 If you configure FileMaker Pro to use a port number other than 80 (the default), that port number must be appended to your IP address, for example: :88. See Specifying a port number for web publishing on page You can also create an HTML page that contains a link to a database published on the web. For more information, see Linking to a database from an HTML page on page 15. The Database Homepage lists the FileMaker Pro databases that are open on the host computer and enabled for web sharing. If you don t see an open, shared database listed: 1 Check its filename: it should be unique and not contain single or double quotation marks. 1 Be sure Don t display in Instant Web Publishing homepage in the Instant Web Publishing dialog box is cleared. Web users click a filename to open a database. Type the IP address or domain name in the browser window Click a filename to open the database The Database Homepage lists files shared with Instant Web Publishing

3 Chapter 3 Working with FileMaker databases on the web 21 Logging in to a file When opening a database, web users may be prompted for their account information. Forms-based login page 1 If the Guest account is enabled with the Instant Web Publishing extended privilege, web users have the option to log in with the Guest account instead of an account name and password. 1 If the Guest account is the only account with the Instant Web Publishing extended privilege enabled, web users automatically log in with the Guest account, and they do not see the login page. 1 The default privilege set for Guest accounts provides read-only access. You can change the default privilege in the Accounts tab of the Manage Accounts & Privileges dialog box. For more information, see FileMaker Pro Help. 1 Web users generally cannot modify their account password from a web browser. However, it is possible to use the Change Password script step to designate a preset password that the user can change to. 1 You can let users change their login accounts from a web browser with the Re-Login script step (for example, to switch from the Guest account to an account with more privileges). 1 Since basic authentication has been replaced with a forms-based model, account names and passwords are not restricted to the ISO-Latin-1 character set. 1 With FileMaker Server Advanced, you can limit the list of hosted databases displayed in the Database Homepage to only those databases each web user can access. If this option is selected, web users will be prompted for their account information before they view the Database Homepage.

4 22 FileMaker Instant Web Publishing Guide Working with data in Instant Web Publishing The FileMaker Instant Web Publishing status area has been designed to resemble the desktop application. Web users interact with databases on the web in Browse or Find mode. All the features that enable web users to interact with your database, for example, entering, editing, deleting, and finding records, are accessible from the status area. Data from a FileMaker layout displayed in a web browser with Instant Web Publishing Viewing and modifying records in Browse mode In Browse mode, web users perform tasks by clicking on an icon in the status area. If their account name and privileges provide access, they can: 1 create records 1 edit records 1 duplicate records 1 delete records 1 sort the found set (based on fields on the current layout) 1 show all records 1 omit the current record from the found set 1 omit multiple, consecutive records from the found set 1 view the omitted records (and hide the existing found set) Hold the cursor over an icon to see its description. Procedures are outlined in the Instant Web Publishing Help. To view the Help file, click the Question Mark (?) in the status area. Important After entering or editing data in a record, web users must click the Submit button in the status area to save the record to the host.

5 Chapter 3 Working with FileMaker databases on the web 23 Go to Database Homepage, Browse, or Find Mode Add, edit, delete, sort, omit, or show omitted records Change layouts and layout views View previous or next record Save new or changed data to the host Abandon any changes and return to Browse mode Status of current found set Modify last find request Log out and close windows to protect data Status area in Browse mode Status area when editing records Finding records In Find mode, web users have the same searching capabilities as FileMaker Pro desktop users. They can: 1 create find requests 1 duplicate find requests 1 delete find requests 1 show all records 1 extend (broaden) or constrain (narrow) the found set Toggle shows or hides the status area Add, duplicate or delete find requests or show all records Change layouts and layout views View previous or next find request Status area in Find mode Status of current find requests Include search operators in your find request Perform find or modify previous find results

6 24 FileMaker Instant Web Publishing Guide Procedures are outlined in the Instant Web Publishing Help. To view the Help file, click the Question Mark (?) in the status area. Note After entering or editing search criteria in a find request, web users must click the Perform Find button in the status area to send the request to the host. Web users can show or hide the status area with a toggle. To have complete control over the user interface, you can create a startup script to ensure that the status area is hidden. For more information, see Hiding the status area to customize the interface on page 31. Working with records that contain a web viewer Web users can interact with web viewers in much the same way FileMaker Pro desktop users can. Web users can: 1 view web page content that is related to the current record including content that requires a web browser plug-in, such as PDF documents, QuickTime movies, and so on 1 click links to navigate web sites 1 use the shortcut menu within a web viewer to move back and forward between web pages, copy text, and so on Note To navigate back and forward within a web viewer in Instant Web Publishing, use the shortcut menu. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) within the web viewer and choose Back or Forward. If the layout has more than one web viewer, the shortcut menu works only with the web viewer that has most recently changed from one page to another, not necessarily the one that your mouse pointer is over. Logging out of a database and closing a web session Important When web users are finished working with a database, it is important that they click the Log Out button in the status area and quit the web browser application. If they close browser windows or quit the browser application before logging out, their session is still open. This might: 1 prevent others from accessing the data 1 make data vulnerable to hackers until the specified time out occurs If this happens, you can either wait for the session to time out or close the file on the host machine, which immediately disconnects all web users. There is no way to send a message to web users requesting that they log out of their sessions. If you are concerned that web users might not log out of the database properly, you can set the session time out for a short amount of time. This minimizes the inconvenience if web users don t log out of the database properly. See Disconnecting inactive web accounts on page 15 for more information. You can also create a scripted button to safely log web users off. See Creating a script to log out of a database and close the session on page 36. If you are concerned about security, consider hosting the files with FileMaker Server and enable SSL encryption in a web browser. For more information, see the FileMaker Pro User s Guide or FileMaker Server Help.